Trick or Treat

All the best Dallas-Fort Worth events to get your party on this Halloween

When it comes to celebrating Halloween, your choices generally come down to two things: haunted houses and parties. Since we covered Dallas-Fort Worth's best haunted houses earlier this month, it's time to check out what kind of parties are out there to be found over Halloween weekend. And just because we like you, we've thrown in a few non-parties to give you some options.

Friday, October 28

Boo at the Zoo
Halloween is at least halfway for kids, so why not throw them a bone with a couple of events? In Fort Worth, kids can go to the annual Boo at the Zoo at the Fort Worth Zoo and trick-or-treat while enjoying the animals and other fun. Halloween-themed activities and entertainment are located throughout the zoo for all guests to enjoy.

Dallas Arboretum presents Nighttime Trick-or-Treating
This special nighttime event in the Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden at the Dallas Arboretum is a rare opportunity to visit the garden after hours. It includes three straight nights of trick-or-treating, from 6 and 9 pm, through Sunday, and it also features a not-so-spooky flashlight tour, a glowing program, and a special Halloween Lab.

Halloween Bar Crawl-o-ween Fort Worth
Adults can start their Halloween weekend in Fort Worth with a fun pub crawl. Happening both Friday and Saturday, the crawls visit five bars — Brewster's Place, Landmark Bar and Grill, Abbey Pub, Whiskey Garden, and Trophy Ranch — with tickets including gift cards, drink specials, and costume contests.

Saturday, October 29

Denton's Day of the Dead Festival
Taking place just outside of downtown Denton, at the corner of E. Hickory and Industrial streets, Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival is a free, family-friendly event that pays homage to the goodness of the harvest, Dia de los Muertos, and all things Halloween. Among the different activities are trunk-or-treating, a pumpkin patch, salsa cook-off, shopping and food booths, coffin races, a twilight parade, and the Halloween musical Cirque du Horror.

Hughes Family Tribute Center presents Dia de los Muertos Festival
If Denton is too far for you, you can head to Crown Hill Memorial Park for another Dia de los Muertos festival. This one features a theatrical production by Teatro Flor Candela and a dance presentation by Grupo Pakal. There are also vendors of traditional Dia de los Muertos items, children’s activities, live music, prize drawings, and a screening of The Book of Life.

National Theatre Live presents Frankenstein
Instead of dressing up in a costume, check out others in costumes with a screening of this 2011 theater production starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. The two actors took turns playing Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his monstrous creation, delivering performances that fit right in during this spooky season. It screens at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Oak Lawn Halloween Block Party
Dallas' annual Oak Lawn Halloween Block Party may be the largest costume party in the city, with hundreds of people partying on Cedar Springs Road. The free event features the Costume Promenade with live commentary, music, food, beer, and other refreshments. There's also a live DJ and featured Rose Room performances in the back lot.

Halloween Daloween
Sometimes you need little more than some good music, costumes, and drinks to have a good time. That's what the Aloft Dallas is offering, featuring music from DJ Jen Miller on the downstairs dance floor, a $250 prize for sexiest and most creative costumes, food trucks, and scary scenes for Hallo-selfies. A portion of the proceeds from the event goes to help the families of fallen soldiers. Make sure to buy your tickets ($30) in advance, as they're double the price at the door.

Granada Theater and Sundown at Granada present Dia de los Muertos Costume Bash
The Granada Theater and Sundown at Granada are teaming up for a Dia de los Muertos Costume Bash. Blue the Misfit, Nick Van House, Booty Fade, and The Feels bring the beats to the Granada stage while Ronnie Heart, Dezi 5, Lev, and Sudie entertain Sundown at Granada’s partygoers. There's also a costume contest with cash prizes awarded to the spookiest ghouls and goblins.

The Arthritis Foundation presents 11th Annual Bone Bash Masquerade Ball
The annual Bone Bash Masquerade Ball is an opportunity to have some fun and raise some money for a good cause. The event, which raises money for the Arthritis Foundation, features a performance by Doctor-Doctor, a competitive costume contest, the Wicked Wine Pull, Spell-tacular, a silent auction, psychic readings by Nik Raka, living décor, dinner, and dancing. You can also attend the Haunted Dance Party after the event, where DJ Arthur Briones is playing deep into the night.

Halloween at ZaZa Dallas
Hotel ZaZa is known for its great parties, and the good thing about this one is you can enjoy other festivities earlier in the night, then head over to ZaZa for some late-night fun. They are celebrating Halloween with a DJ, dancing, drink specials, and late-night passed bites. Make sure to check out their room specials if you want to make a full night of it.

Sunday, October 30

Slingfest
This time of year, most people think pumpkins are for decorating, eating, or flavoring their lattes. But the organizers of Slingfest, which moves to Oak Point Park in Plano this year, would rather sling them far into the air with specially built trebuchets, catapults, ballistas, and other pumpkin chunking devices in contests of accuracy, distance, and funky flings. There's also booths with local artists and vendors, as well as a variety of food trucks.

Open Classical presents Night of the Living Dead Composers
If you want a little culture with your holiday, check out Open Classical’s Halloween special, which features Decomposing Beethoven, Decomposing Brahms, and other composers. Taking place at Live Oak Music Hall & Lounge in Fort Worth, it also features a host of other colorfully hysterical historical characters presenting twists on classical music masterpieces.

Monday, October 31

Stockyards Station presents Treat Street
Dress your family in their Halloween best and head on down to the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards for Treat Street. Stockyards Station and 92.1 Hank FM Party Patrol present costume contests, pumpkin decorating, games, hayrides, and trick-or-treating at Stockyards Station shops.

Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet presents Suspiria
Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet opens its season with a one-night-only performance at Texas Theatre. The program centers on the 1977 Dario Argento film Suspiria, which follows an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany but later realizes that the academy is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural. DNCB presents three dance pieces preceding the screening, performed by Nicolina Laswon, Danielle Georgiou, and Emilie Skinner.

National Theatre Live screens Frankenstein at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth on October 29.

National Theatre Live presents Frankenstein

Photo by Catherine Ashmore

National Theatre Live screens Frankenstein at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth on October 29.

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Movie Review

Wicked: For Good loses cinematic magic in rushed second-act sequel

Photo by Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked: For Good.

Splitting the film adaptation of the musical Wicked into two parts makes a certain kind of sense beyond the financial incentive of making fans pay for two films. Like most stage musicals, there’s a definitive break between the two acts, and it’s hard to resist going out on the high note of “Defying Gravity” for the first film. And expanding the story for the films puts the entire story at around 5 hours, much too long for one sitting.

However, separating them puts a spotlight on the strengths and weaknesses of each act of the musical, and it's a popular opinion that the second act is inferior to the first act. In the awkwardly-named Wicked: For Good, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is firmly ensconced as the Wicked Witch of the West, striking fear in people across Oz. Meanwhile, Glinda (Ariana Grande) has ascended as the protector of the land’s citizens, even as she hides the fact that she doesn’t possess the powers that Elphaba does.

The story speeds through a number of different arcs, including Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), becoming governor of Munchkinland; Glinda essentially forcing Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) to commit to marrying her; even more bad revelations involving the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh); and more. Hanging over all of it is the tenuous bond between Elphaba and Glinda, which is tested on multiple occasions.

Director John M. Chu, working from a script by original musical writer Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, leads the way on the faithful adaptation that is perhaps a bit too faithful. Chu helmed the memorable adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights that brought more life to an already lively production. He accomplished similar results in Wicked part one, but For Good often feels less than cinematic, with many scenes coming off as static and too much like a stage production.

The second film contains a lot of story movement, including the vague or explicit introduction of the four main characters from The Wizard of Oz, providing plenty of opportunity for creative staging or deeper storytelling. Instead, things just sort of happen, with Holzman and Fox failing to see the necessity of connecting story dots in a movie setting. With lots of extra time to work with (the run time is 2 hours and 17 minutes), giving more information about significant events shouldn’t have been an issue, and yet the filmmakers rarely give the audience that luxury.

The songs, as they should be, are the showcase of the film, and yet none of the sequences measure up to the ones in the first film. The rushed storylines make it difficult to connect with emotionally-resonant songs like “As Long As You’re Mine” and “No Good Deed.” “No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble,” new songs created for the film for Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, are decent but lack power. “For Good” is the one everyone is waiting for, but it too fails to land properly.

Erivo and Grande certainly give it their all, and when they’re allowed to dig deep into their characters, they make as much of an impact as they did in the first film. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as often, and their characters’ bond suffers. Most of the other actors are done no favors by the whirlwind storytelling, but Goldblum still stands out in his various scenes.

Creating a whole film for the second act of Wicked gave Chu and his team a perfect chance to slow things down and give the events it contains extra meaning. Unfortunately, they turned For Good into something that feels less like an expansive movie and more like a slightly more interesting version of the stage production.

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Wicked: For Good opens in theaters on November 21.

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